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NICKY INTERVIEW-
JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD has said that the Manics want to leave their fans with a final statement that "wasn't shit", which was widely taken to be a reference to the lukewarm critical reaction to their last offering, 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'.

The band also said that their final album would mark a change of direction for the Manics and that their New Year's Eve gig, their biggest to date, would see the end of their current incarnation.

Wire explained: "I think nostalgia is a very dodgy thing. You've got to look to the future. We've been together ten years and it's lovely and we're proud of what we've achieved, but this gig is like ending a certain phase and the next phase will be radically different again, hopefully."

Wire also disclosed to NME that he was relieved that he'd made up his mind to be honest about the future of the group - and immediately launched into a diatribe against Gomez and the Longpigs, bands who have both criticised the Manics in recent weeks.

"I know no other bands like me as a person, they think I'm untalented and all the rest of it, but it just makes me feel good again. I've been false for a year, pretending I like all these idiots," he said. "I read in the NME what Gomez said about the Mercurys and that there's not an original bone in our bodies. Well, I'd like to see them get a Number One record with a song about the Spanish Civil War! Their lyrics are some of the most fifth-form pile of student drug shit that I've ever heard. Mary J Blige has got more soul than they'll ever have. And for them to take the piss out of so-called R&B is just the biggest joke in the fuckin' world.

"And I think it was the Longpigs that said their album's a million miles away from ours. Well, I think they meant a million sales. I think they got mixed up. So you know, I don't feel any need to go into my shell any more if people despise me. I'm strong enough again. For a while.

"I feel liberated, I feel cleansed, I just don't need to please. People say that shaking and faking in the music industry is bad but it's worse among bands. So many egos flying round pretending to like each other, it's just a load of bullshit. I've nothing in common with any other musicians, apart from maybe some of the Super Furries who I genuinely love as people and as a band, they're just so lovable and endearing. But that's as far as it goes."

He said his new attitude had begun to take shape after their lacklustre appearance at Glastonbury and the subsequent 'Billy Bragg Personal Backstage Toilet Scandal' which in turn sparked an avalanche of criticism that the band weren't '4 Real' any more.

"It's all tied up with that," Wire said. "We reached a point at Glastonbury where... you know, there's no way it was the worst gig we've ever done but we were just as bored as everyone else with it. It was just average, which is even worse than being bad. So from T In The Park onwards, it was like... I'm just really happy to be the most unpopular man in rock again.

Wire also confirmed that their next single would be 'Masses Against The Classes' and that it would be released in the third or fourth week of January.

He said the inspiration behind the new harder, faster sound of the track and their determination to have complete control over its release was watching The Clash documentary Westway To The World.

"It just brought it home to you that they had complete control. You know, 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais', 'I Fought The Law', 'The Cost Of Living EP', all those records were never on albums, but apart from 'Suicide Is Painless', we've never had that. It's something we always wanted to do, but we just kind of forgot about it. It's going to be a frivolous, in-the-bargain-bin-two-weeks-later type single. We're not worried if it goes Top Five, or Number One or Top 20, it's just something to get out of our system. We're not going to do a video for it and we're not going to do any promotion for it, we're just going to bang it out."

SPLIT??- Are the Manix going to split??
The Manics have strongly hinted that they will split after their next album, due for release in 2001.

Speaking after a press conference in Cardiff last week (October 5) to promote their Manic Millennium gig at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Arms Park on December 31, lead singer James Dean Bradfield told a reporter that he didn't still want to be in the band when he was 40.

Nicky Wire told NME: "When my passport's up in the year 2002 I don't intend to renew it."

The band plan to spend all next year preparing the album, their sixth, for a 2001 release. They then plan to release a greatest hits package, rumoured to be a double album titled 'Forever Delayed', and call it a day.

You can read the full story in NME, out now in London and across the UK from tomorrow. Streamed audio of the interview will be available on nme.com later this week.

MILLENIUM GIG- Manic Street Preachers have announced that their most impressive live event to date will take place at The Millennium Stadium Cardiff Arms Park.

The New Year's Eve concert will mark a triumphant homecoming for the most successful Welsh rock group of all time. The show will also feature internationally acclaimed guests and video messages from the worlds of sport, drama and music. It will be an international event celebrating the end of the millennium and will be linked via TV to celebrations across Europe and the world, displayed on the video screens inside the arena.

Within two months of the Rugby World Cup Final, the eyes of the world will be on Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium once again. The Manic's show will be the first live music event to be held at the venue and, with the retractable roof in place, it will transform the stadium into the UK's biggest indoor arena with a capaccity of 54,000 people. It will be a fitting venue to mark the 10th anniversary of one of Britian's most celebrated and fasinating bands.

The ticket price of £30 reflects Manic Street Preachers' determination to provide a fantastic New Year's Eve event at a price as affordable as possible. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Wednesday 6th October.

Special live guests and DJ's to be announced. Doors open at 6pm and bars (with standard bar prices) and entertainment will run until 2am. Details of public transport to and from the event will announced shortly.

The last single taken from the newest album: "This is my truth tell me yours" Is Tsunami, it will be realesed on June 5 and features a Brand new song, 'BUILDINGS FOR DEAD PEOPLE', If you want to listen to it just go to the Audio section

The band's '93 album "Gold Against The Soul" and '94's "Holy Bible" will now be available on mini-disc at a 'Nice Price'. It was released 3rd May.

MANIC STREET
PREACHERS BOOK

"Everything:", a book about Manic Street Preachers by Simon Price, will be published by Virgin on 20 May 1999.

Manic Street Preachers underlined their status as the 90s most formidable rock band. It was for the second time they received the Brits two most coveted awards, Best Band and Best Album. At a time dominated by pure pop, they have made guitars SEXY again without compromise and since the release of their album "This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours" (Sept '98) have dominated polls and awards ceremonies. They are the first band to win a Brit Award for consecutive album releases.

The Manics were pleased to receive the 2 Brit Awards. Afterwards Nicky Wire said that he would like to dedicate the two awards to "the members of the International Brigade who fought in the Spanish Civil War."

It's the third single from their No.1 triple platinum album, "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" and is released by Epic over three formats, featuring a new song, two remixes and live tracks from the Manics' sold out UK arena tour in December '98 including a cover version of The Clash's "Train In Vain":

CD1 1. You Stole The Sun From My 2. Socialist Serenade 3. Train In Vain (recorded live on the December arena tour)

CD2 1. You Stole The Sun From My Heart 2. You Stole The Sun From My Heart (Joy Is The Ploy remix) - remixed by the Irish soundtrack enthusiast David Holmes 3. You Stole The Sun From My Heart remixed by Scottish post-rockers, Mogwai.

MC 1. You Stole The Sun From My Heart 2. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (recorded live on the December arena tour)